There are a lot of rumors out there that FBI Director Kash Patel is on thin ice with the president, but I just don’t see it.
I was not a fan of Patel as the choice to lead the agency, but I have no problem saying that I think he has done, at the very least, an adequate job as its director.
Dems are now going after him with everything they have, using Patel’s efforts at transparency amid the Charlie Kirk murder investigation to take him down, but it sure looked to me like it backfired.
One of the reasons I was disappointed in Patel during his confirmation hearing was that he refused to punch back when attacked, but that was not the case today during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
Patel was challenged by virtually every Democrat who questioned him, but the two questioners who stood out the most to me were Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Adam Schiff (D-CA).
Booker made another grandiose speech against Patel, saying that under his directorship, he had made the country “weaker and less safe,” adding, "I think this might be your last oversight hearing, because as much as you supplicate yourself to the will of Donald Trump and not the Constitution of the United States of America, Donald Trump has shown us in his first term, and in this term, he is not loyal to people like you."
Patel quickly responded, "That rant of false information does not bring this country together. It's my time, not yours." Booker was then enraged, responding, “My God! My God!”
I could not believe that Patel did not unload on Schiff during his confirmation hearing, especially since he knew that the liberal lawlamer had lied during the Russian collusion investigation.
Schiff just continued to poke Patel in the hearing, and you could see Patel’s temperature rising with every word that Schiff said.
The senator really started to go after Patel on the topic of the Epstein files, which is when the director finally snapped and went off on the California Democrat.
Patel called Schiff the “biggest fraud to ever sit in the United States Senate” as well as calling him a “political buffoon.” I have the interview teed up to the moment just before Schiff takes over the questioning, but you can watch the entire hearing in this video (click here).
Another key allegation made against Patel right now has to do with the way in which he handled the Kirk investigation, more specifically, his premature announcements that the prime suspect was in custody, made on two different occasions, only for those individuals to be later released.
Patel defended his approach, stating, "We are making a traditionally nontransparent agency the most transparent it has ever been.”
Do I think Patel could have used better wording in his updates? I would absolutely say yes, but at the same time, it was great to hear step-by-step progress, and I also applauded him for recognizing they had the wrong person, keeping them in custody for minimal time, and letting the public know that he still needed their help to find the real culprit.
During his time as director, we have seen the FBI partner with local and other federal agencies to conduct some of the largest and most extensive sting operations we have ever seen. I am not saying Patel is perfect -- far from it -- but so far, it is very hard to argue with his success, including that of wrapping up the Kirk manhunt in under 48 hours.
